From an undrafted free agent to one of the NBA’s highest-paid players. What a past eight years it has been for Fred VanVleet.
The now-former Toronto Raptors star has earned the first max contract of the summer, signing a three-year deal with the Houston Rockets worth a whopping $130 million.
You read that right. The former Wichita State star has joined a few handfuls of point guards on a max contract around the NBA. Said deal will pay the 29-year-old VanVleet $43.3 million annually.
Houston had long been linked to VanVleet leading up to NBA free agency. The team had roughly $60 million to spend under the NBA salary cap before this big-time signing. Despite a late push to retain the star point guard, Toronto is now left out in the cold.
Fred VanVleet stats (2022-23): 19.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 7.2 APG, 39% shooting, 34% 3-point
VanVleet’s shooting splits were down big time in 2022-23 as the Raptors struggled through a .500 season. From 2018-22, the Illinois native put up a 40/38 split.
Despite this, he’s going to provide a ton of veteran experience for a young Rockets squad moving forward. It’s an area Houston sought out to target leading into the summer. The team was primarily linked to former Rockets star James Harden early in the process. Instead, they turn to a tremendous floor general and someone who plays solid defense.
The addition of Fred VanVleet gives Houston a perimeter rotation that also consists of Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr. and rookie No. 4 pick Amen Thompson.
For the Houston Rockets, this is not the end of their free-agent shopping. They have been linked to Brook Lopez and the enigmatic Dillon Brooks on the open market. The idea here for general manager Rafael Stone is to get veterans to fill in the gaps under first-year head coach Ime Udoka.